People of the Russian community welcomed the Prime Minister by singing Krishna Bhajan in Hindi. During this, Russian citizens stood with folded hands and in response, Prime Minister Modi also stood with folded hands.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached the Russian city of Kazan to participate in the 16th BRICS conference. He is holding bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of this conference. But before that he was given a grand welcome on reaching Kazan. People of the Russian community welcomed the Prime Minister by singing Krishna Bhajan in Hindi. During this, Russian citizens stood with folded hands and in response, Prime Minister Modi also stood with folded hands. Some people of the Russian community held the tricolor in their hands.
Apart from Russian President Putin, Prime Minister Modi is likely to hold several bilateral meetings including meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the three-day summit is a powerful way to demonstrate the failure of US-led efforts to isolate him over Russia's actions in Ukraine. Yuri Ushakov, a foreign affairs adviser to the Kremlin's presidential office, described the summit as “the largest foreign policy event ever” held by Russia, with 36 countries participating and more than 20 of them Is the head of state of.
BRICS initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, but now also includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members and some other countries have also shown interest in joining.
Analysts see the BRICS summit as part of the Kremlin's efforts to demonstrate support to the 'Global South' and expand economic and financial ties amid Russia's growing tensions with the West. The 'Global South' refers to countries that are developing or less developed.
Proposed projects include the launch of a new payments system that will provide an alternative to the global bank messaging network 'Swift' and enable Russia to bypass Western sanctions and trade with partners. On the sidelines of the summit, Putin will hold about 20 bilateral meetings. These also include meetings with Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday. Putin will also meet on Thursday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will visit Russia for the first time in more than two years. Guterres has repeatedly criticized Russia's actions in Ukraine. (with language inputs)
